Crist looking more and more like a candidate for governor

Charlie Crist celebrated the beginning of Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year — by having dinner with an old college friend on Wednesday night.

By Lloyd DunkelbergerTallahassee bureau

TALLAHASSEE — Charlie Crist celebrated the beginning of Rosh Hashanah — the Jewish New Year — by having dinner with an old college friend on Wednesday night.

The friend, the place and timing of the dinner were more signals of what appears to be inevitable: Crist’s entry into next year’s governor’s race.

The former Republican governor dined with Steve Geller, a former state senator who met Crist while both were students at Florida State University. As Crist rose in GOP politics, Geller pursued a similar course with the Democrats — although both their careers were sidelined by electoral defeats in 2010.

But Crist’s dinner with Geller in Broward County — Florida’s most significant Democratic county — is just one of a series of moves Crist is making leading up to an expected announcement next month prior to the Florida Democrats’ conference in Orlando. This weekend, Crist — who endorsed Barack Obama in last year’s presidential race and joined the Democratic Party — will be courting Democrats in Marion County.

Crist’s Rosh Hashanah dinner with Geller is nothing new. He did it as a first-year Republican governor in 2007, eating a meal with Geller’s family and friends and then attending temple services.

On Thursday, Crist described his Broward County visit as a “wonderful” experience.

After dinner, Crist joined the Gellers and their friends at the Temple Solel in Hollywood for Rosh Hashanah services.

“It’s always a pleasure to bring in the new year with high hopes,” Crist said. “It was a great time.”

Geller, who lost a race for a Broward County Commission seat in 2010, said Crist was warmly received by the temple members in both his visits for Rosh Hashanah services.

“He was here last time as a Republican. They loved him. And now that he was here as a Democrat, they still loved him,” Geller said, adding that temple members are a heavily Democratic group.

Noting Crist’s 2007 visit as well as his attendance at Yom Kippur services that year at a Miami-Dade County temple, Geller said: “This is a tradition he has had for a long time, trying to be inclusive.”

Geller, who was the leader of the Senate Democrats when Crist was governor, and former Attorney General Bob Butterworth — who is also a former Broward sheriff — are the de facto leaders of a group of prominent Democrats who are helping Crist in one of Florida’s most pivotal political counties.

Crist has made numerous visits to Broward, including the state party’s Jefferson-Jackson dinner in June. But Crist was coy about his affinity for the area.

“I enjoy being in South Florida like I do the entire state,” Crist said. “It’s very important to me and always has been whether I was commissioner of education, attorney general or governor.”

Broward will be critical to any chance the Democrats have of unseating Republican Gov. Rick Scott next year. And success or failure may be measured by Broward’s turnout.

Last year, 67 percent of Broward voters turned out, giving Obama a net gain of 264,000 votes that helped him carry the state for the second time. In contrast, in 2010, only 41 percent of Broward’s voters turned out, giving Democratic gubernatorial candidate Alex Sink a less impressive 131,000-vote margin that was one of the keys to her narrow defeat.

Democrats cannot expect to generate a presidential-year turnout in next year’s election, but Geller and other Democratic strategists believe Crist’s high name recognition and his personal charisma will boost turnout to more competitive levels than 2010.

“I like Alex Sink,” Geller said. “But there is a difference in the energy levels between Alex Sink and Charlie Crist.

“There’s just a feeling of electricity. Everybody wants to be near him. Everybody wants to touch him. Everybody wants to talk to him,” he added.

Republicans are more skeptical of the power of Crist’s charm. They say his candidacy will be undermined by the many positions he took as a conservative Republican — from gun rights to abortion — and it will hurt his standing with Democrats and independent voters.

Crist could also face Democratic opposition from Sink, who hasn’t decided whether she will run again, or former state Sen. Nan Rich, D-Weston, a Broward lawmaker who is the only Democrat actively campaigning against Scott and who has raised questions about Crist’s credentials in his new party.

Geller said he has defended Crist against the charge that he has no “political core.”

“It’s a very strong political core. But it’s a centrist” core, Geller said. “When you’re a centrist, it’s easy for people on both sides to attack you.”

Geller also said Crist’s political philosophy will resonate with the majority of Florida voters. “They’re in the middle,” he said.

Meanwhile, Geller said he expects an announcement from Crist by early next month, timed in part by the beginning of a new fundraising quarter on Oct. 1 and the fact that state election laws will change on Nov. 1, allowing gubernatorial candidates to collect up to $3,000 in individual contributions.

Crist is more circumspect about his plans. Having run in five prior statewide races, Crist said, “it takes time to put those things together.”